Disclaimer: If this really happened, I think a lot of people would be in shock, ja?

Hallo! It's Xero! Wow, it's been a while since I wrote a ShikaNaru, huh? A few years at least. That being said, I've mainly been writing Akatsuki stories and I'd forgotten a lot of stuff from this. I hope I remembered everything okay. Let the deadly tale begin!

Konoha was a busy place in the summer. The ninja academy was out for the season, so children frequently inhabited the parks and rivers. More often than not was a game of soccer being played at the training field, usually with Konohamaru as the referee.

One particularly hot summer day, Team Seven was "training" at a nearby pool. Kakashi wanted to know what the group was doing and Naruto instantly said that they would be training. Sakura protested, saying that it wasn't a good idea to lie to their sensei. Sasuke, as usual, remained silent through the whole ordeal.

"I still don't like the idea." Sakura said as Naruto jumped into the pool.

"Come off it, Sakura-chan." Naruto said as he came up for air. "No one else is complaining."

"Because you two are so dim-witted..." Sakura said.

"I'm not dim-witted, Sakura." Sasuke protested, his obsidian eyes on the pink-haired kunoichi.

"I didn't say you were, Sasuke-kun." Sakura said to the annoyed Uchiha.

"Yes, you did." Sasuke said.

"This is getting ridiculous." Sakura said, doing a handstand underwater before coming back up for air.

"You just won't accept that you're wrong." Naruto said.

"I never said anyone was wrong!" Sakura protested.

"Arguing again, Sakura?"

The three looked over to the shallow end of the pool and saw Team Ten make their entrance. Choji was eating a bag of chips, which was nothing out of the ordinary for him. Ino was spraying herself with sunscreen and Shikamaru simply looked annoyed with the other two.

"What's it to you, Ino?" Sakura glared at the blonde.

"Don't get her started, Sakura." Shikamaru said, before diving into the pool.

"She's in a bad mood?" Naruto assumed.

"When is she not?" Sasuke rolled his eyes before doing a somersault underwater.

"I'm not mad, Naruto." Ino said as she jumped into the water.

"Sure looks like it to me." Choji said.

"Shut it, Choji." Ino snapped.

"So what are we getting into today?" Naruto asked.

"No idea." Shikamaru replied, floating lazily on his back.

"Oh, my mom says that there's some thing going on at the park tonight." Ino said.

"And you're telling us because...?" Sasuke wondered.

"I was told to tell you guys." Ino said as she tied her hair up in a ponytail.

"She has yet to tell us what's going on." Shikamaru explained to Team Seven.

"It's obvious, Sasuke." Ino said, looking at Shikamaru, who was looking strangely at the raven-haired Uchiha.

"Is it really?" Sasuke looked surprised.

"Just a bit, yeah." Ino said.

"And she means that it's brutally obvious, Sasuke-kun." Sakura said, now swimming to the other end of the pool.

"Well, I keep telling you guys that I'm not into guys, so you won't have to worry about me and Sasuke being a problem or something like that." Naruto said.

"Well, that's a good thing." Sakura said.

"Could you imagine explaining that to Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke wondered.

"That'd be interesting." Choji said, dive-bombing into the pool.

"I'd better get going." Shikamaru said, climbing out of the water. "Dad needs me to help with the deer again."

"Me, too." Naruto said. "My apartment's looking really bad."

"Maybe you should clean it more than once every two months, Naruto." Sakura said.

"I do!" Naruto protested as he got out of the pool and dried off with a towel.

"That's what they all say." Ino smiled.

"So we'll see you tonight?" Naruto asked everyone else.

"What?" Shikamaru frowned. "Is everyone going?"

"I need to get you out of the house, Shikamaru." Naruto said pulling the lazy ninja away from the pool.

"But I was over at your place yesterday." Shikamaru protested, following the blonde down the street.

"That doesn't count and you know it." Naruto said. "You're my boyfriend. You have to come over eventually."

"I still don't see why we can't let people know about us." Shikamaru said. "It's not like its criminal."

"But I want to see how long it takes people to notice." Naruto said. "And you know your mother would tell everybody."

"Well, how long do you think I've known that?" Shikamaru rolled his eyes."And I know for a fact that you don't need to work with the deer." Naruto said, his blue eyes on Shikamaru. "I helped you with them last weekend."

"I just wanted to get away from Ino." Shikamaru sighed. "She's so troublesome."

"She and Sakura-chan, both." Naruto said.

"So did you know about Sasuke?" Shikamaru asked his boyfriend.

"That he likes me?" Naruto questioned. "No, I had no idea. But I wasn't really paying attention to him like that."

"I'll just tell her that we were practicing ninjutsu today." Shikamaru shrugged. "She'll believe that. I hope."

Later that night, the park in the middle of Konoha was filled with teenagers. Lee kept challenging Neji to fights, to which Neji usually won. Tenten and Hinata were doing a very good job making onigiri and Sakura was helping Ino make various types of salad. Sasuke had the job of heating the hot dogs and hamburgers, so at regular intervals, the Uchiha performed the Phoenix Flower Jutsu on the grill.

"I still say it'd be easier to just grill them normally, Sasuke." Kiba said as he threw some sticks for Akamaru to chase.

"I need to get some training in today, Kiba." Sasuke said. "I haven't been training a lot, lately."

"He seemed kind of possessive, didn't he?" Ino said as she started to pour shredded cheese into the salad.

"But why would Shikamaru do that?" Sakura frowned.

"That's exactly why I'm asking you." Ino said.

"Asking who what?"

Sasuke had made his way over to the tent where Ino and Sakura were working. The Uchiha looked slightly confused and probably wanted to know what the other two were talking about.

"Sasuke-kun, did Shikamaru seem weird to you at the pool today?" Sakura asked.

"A little." Sasuke said, running his fingers through his hair. "Naruto did too, to be honest."

"I told you, Sakura." Ino said, cutting up tomatoes.

"Sakura, I need the seasoning for the hamburgers and Ino, now would be a great time for you to give me the steaks if we want them tonight." Sasuke said.

"Okay, fine." Ino found the steaks from the fridge and handed them to the Uchiha.

"But did Shikamaru seem a little possessive around Naruto?" Sakura asked her teammate as she gave him the seasoning.

"Especially after you told everyone that I like Naruto." Sasuke glared at Sakura.

"Oh, it was obvious, Sasuke-kun." Sakura rolled her eyes.

Elsewhere, two teenagers stood at the gate, making sure that both of them looked presentable for the occasion. Shikamaru still wore his Chûnin vest and Naruto was still clad in his usual orange attire.

"So are we clear, Shikamaru?" Naruto asked his boyfriend. "We are not telling anyone tonight."

"I heard you the first sixty times." Shikamaru said.

"Well, knowing you..." Naruto said, rolling his eyes.

"You do notice that I don't do anything you don't want me to do, right?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"Sometimes." Naruto replied. "Now let's get going before people get suspicious."

"I think they already are." Shikamaru muttered under his breath.

Pretty soon, Naruto and Shikamaru forgot about their earlier argument. Lee drafted Naruto into the sparring ring and Ino had forced Shikamaru to help Sakura work on the pasta while she started working on the shrimp for Sasuke.

Eventually, Shikamaru and Naruto managed to get away from everyone else just before dinner started. Shikamaru had found his boyfriend sitting on a log, taking a break from his fight with Lee, and dragged him away from the rest of the group.

"What's up, Shikamaru?" Naruto asked.

"I'm bored." Shikamaru complained. "Ino has me in the kitchen again."

"Well, I can't help that." Naruto said, kissing Shikamaru gently on the lips.

"You can tell Ino to lighten up." Shikamaru kissed him back.

"She's in your team." Naruto said breathlessly. "Do it yourself."

Shikamaru didn't reply. He was too busy kissing Naruto to say anything in response to his boyfriend's statement.

Naruto began by sliding tongue against Shikamaru's, trying to get some reaction out of his boyfriend. Shikamaru responded to the blonde's actions by nipping Naruto's ear. Naruto gasped, wondering what Shikamaru was doing. He didn't usually do things like this, so what was he up to? He responded by forcing his tongue back into Shikamaru's mouth, exploring the familiar territory. Shikamaru was just about to slide off Naruto's shirt when a muffled scream sounded from not far away.

Looking up, Naruto and Shikamaru saw a very confused Tenten standing a few feet away from the teens.

"Yes, Tenten?" Shikamaru asked.

"Tenten?"

Shino's voice could be heard from behind Tenten, obviously wondering where the older kunoichi had gone.

By now, Shikamaru had separated himself from Naruto and both were acting as if nothing had happened, even though this was clearly not the case.

"I don't see what you're talking about." Naruto said, standing up and pulling Shikamaru to his feet.

"How can you not?!" Tenten exclaimed.

"Oi!" Ino yelled from somewhere in the distance. "Dinner's ready!"

"Give us a minute!" Lee and Tenten yelled.

"What's going on?" Sakura wondered. "Let's get ready to eat."

"Sounds good to me, Sakura-chan." Naruto said as everyone headed back to the table.

"So what's with you two?" Shino asked. "Are you two going out or something?"

"Shh!" Naruto punched Shino in the arm.

"Naruto, it's not much of a secret now." Shikamaru told his boyfriend.

"What's not a secret?" Hinata wondered as she set down a bowl of shrimp salad.

"Naruto and I are going out." Shikamaru said.

That got everyone quiet. Ino dropped the plate of hamburgers on the ground, Kiba knocked over a pitcher of green tea and Sakura fell off of the bench. Nearly everyone else looked shocked.

"Are you serious, Shikamaru?" Choji asked his teammate.

"Yep." Shikamaru nodded.

"That explains it!" Lee exclaimed.

"Explains what?" Hinata frowned.

"They were making out just now." Tenten explained.

"I thought you were straight, Naruto?" Sakura frowned. "That's what you said this afternoon, anyway."

"Well, what else could I say?!" Naruto exclaimed. "You just told me that Sasuke has a thing for me."

"That was supposed to be a secret, Sakura." Sasuke glared at the kunoichi next to him.

"Oh, everyone knew, Sasuke." Neji said.

"But this explains a lot." Choji said.

"Like what?" Ino asked.

"Like how Shikamaru's been acting weird around Naruto." Choji said, putting about ten hot dogs on his plate.

"I have not!" Shikamaru protested.

"Yeah, you have been." Hinata said.

"But it's not like this is really weird." Naruto said. "Now Kiba and Shino. That was a little weird."

"Yeah, it was." Shino said.

"But it was fun." Kiba pointed out, throwing a piece of his steak to Akamaru.

"So are we all done with this now?" Shikamaru wondered. "Now that everything's out in the open?"

"I guess so." Sakura said.

"But what's Sasuke going to do now?" Neji wondered.

"About what?" the Uchiha asked.

"Since Naruto's with Shikamaru, what are you going to do?" Neji asked.

"Nothing." Sasuke shrugged. "I'll just train."

"Like usual." Sakura rolled her eyes. "Nothing odd there."

So everything went on as planned. No one said anything more about Shikamaru and Naruto or about how Sasuke wanted to be with the blonde Uzumaki. Everything was out in the open, as Shikamaru said. What wasn't good about that?

I'd say my writing style has improved since my last ShikaNaru. God, this was NOT what I hoped it would be. But reviews would be great just the same. I'll take requests for anyone who wants something done! PM me with questions and whatnot like that. Just know that I will NOT write mpreg. REviews equal love! thanks for reading!

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.